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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> First Centum >> Eighth Decad
avathArikai (Introduction)
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that AzhwAr wants krishNa to come with the shiny crown.
ennidhu mAyam en appan aRindhilan
munnaiya vaNNamE koNdu aLavAy enna
mannu namuchiyai vAnil suzhaRRIya
minnu mudiyanE! achchO achchO vEngadavANanE! achchO achchO
Word-by-Word Meanings
(As soon as water fell on his divine hands, when he grew with his divine feet to measure the worlds)
idhu – “the way you are doing
en mAyam – appears to be illusory
en appan – my father
aRindhilan – did not know (earlier, that you would do like this). (Hence)
munnaiya vaNNam – the state you were earlier in, when you sought alms
E koNdu – taking the same form
aLavAy – you should measure”
enRa – the one who said this
mannu – one who remained steadfast in his position
namuchiyai – (mahAbali’s son) namuchi
vAnil – in the sky
suzhaRRiya – one who swirled and threw him
minnu – shining radiantly
mudiyanE! – oh, one who has divine crown! You should embrace me.
vEngadam – on the hills of thiruvEngadam
vAzh nanE – oh, one who is dwelling! You should embrace me.
Simple Translation
namuchi, the son of mahAbali, upon seeing that emperumAn was growing rapidly with his divine feet and was going to measure the worlds with those feet, said “What an illusion is this! My father had not known earlier that you would do this way. You should take the form which you had, when you sought alms and measure land with those steps only”. Oh, one, who swirled and threw that namuchi in the sky! You should embrace me. Oh, one who is dwelling in the divine hills of thiruvEngadam! You should embrace me.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
en …– as soon as droplets of water fell on his divine palm (symbolic of mahAbali accepting his request for three steps of land), emperumAn stared lengthening his feet to measure the worlds. namuchi, the son of mahAbali, came running, trying to prevent the growing of the divine feet, saying “What is this?” emperumAn asked him “Why are you preventing the growth of my feet? Should I not measure that which was offered through water?” namuchi responded, saying “Isn’t your action deceptive?” emperumAn asked him back “Who are you to say that it is deceptive? Looking at my form of being a bachelor and acceding to my request, your father granted me my wish, through the medium of water. Was that false?” namuchi replied “My father was caught in the web of your deception and did not know any of your methods”. emperumAn queried him further “How did you conclude that my action is deceptive?” namuchi said “If it is not deceptive, measure with the form with which you had sought alms” Even when emperumAn told him “Is it possible to measure with the previous form? Doesn’t the form change constantly?” namuchi was firm in his view. Oh, one who swirled that namuchi and threw him in the skies, and one, who has an effulgent crown! His crown became effulgent after he had removed the anyaSEshathvam (being servitors of other entities) of all the AthmAs [souls] and their svasvAthanryam (being dependent only on themselves and not dependent on emperumAn).
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here: emperumAn, after removing the hurdle created by SukrAchArya, thought “His disciples may start taking inimical actions” and hence started growing up, to measure the worlds. namuchi, son of mahAbali and disciple of SukrAchArya, trying to prevent this, asked him “What is this?” emperumAn asked him “Why are you preventing this?” namuchi replied “You are changing your form. What did you seek and what are you doing?” emperumAn said “I have carried out all the activities without any violation to my state of being a bachelor. I am qualified in vEdha SAsthrams (sacred texts]. Should I not complete the measurement of the land given by your father?” namuchi said “My father does not know. Without consulting me, who is fully matured, did he act properly?” emperumAn responded saying “Is one, who did not listen to his guru, going to ask you prior to donating?” namuchi said “If there is a hurdle to the donation, should one not revert to the original status?” emperumAn said “What did you say? It is only after knowing the hurdle which would come through you that I had accepted this with the fiat that no objection would be entertained after a moment of getting the donation, instead of the usual limit of ten days”. namuchi again said “You should measure with the form with which you had sought the alms” emperumAn replied “Is that possible? It is that time in my life when the body keeps changing every moment”. namuchi replied “Why can’t you grow at the rate at which people grow in this world?” emperumAn said “Will growth be uniform for all?” namuchi then said “I have to hate only my father. There is no point in faulting you” to which emperumAn asked “Why should you hate your father? Just as it has been mentioned in manthra praSnam ‘AthmAvai puthranAmAsi’ (father is born as the son), when you are not in favour of his donation, [it is evident that] you have been born in the wrong way. You are not his son. You have despised him in my presence, saying that he does not know anything. You cannot call him as your father. Even though he has sired you, he will not recognise you anymore as his son and will consider you as one who had been born the wrong way”. thiruvAimozhip piLLai now asks in his svApadhESam “Was there enough time for asking all these questions and counter questions, more and more?” He gives the response himself quoting mudhal thiruvandhAdhi pAsuram 79 “oNdArai nIrangai thOya nimirndhilaiyE neeLvisumbil Arangai thOya aduththu” (the moment water fell on his divine hands, he grew up rapidly to reach the ethereal layer). emperumAn grew the moment water fell on his divine hand. However, he had sufficient time before that to engage in conversation with namuchi. hanuman was flying towards lankA, in search of sIthAp pirAtti. While flying, mainAka parvatham [a huge mountain] stood in his way and asked him several questions. While he was hurrying towards his destination, he still found time to respond to its questions. Further on the way, nAga mAthA [a deity for snakes] came in his way and told him that she wanted to swallow him. He entered her mouth, converting his sthUla (gross) form into sUkshma (subtle) form, and came out in a moment with his sthUla form and reached his destination. When it is possible for hanuman to do these, when he was in a hurry to complete his task, would it not be possible for the omnipotent entity to raise and answer questions? Further on, thiruvAimozhip piLLai says that when a mukthAthmA [one who is liberated from samsAram, the materialistic realm] gets liberated and goes to SrI vaikuNtam in a moment, in the path of light (archirAdhi mArgam), he accepts the honours given to him by various entities enroute.
vEngadam … – Just as it has been mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 3-3-8 “anRu gyalam aLandha pirAn – senRu sEr thiruvEngadam mAmalai” (the place where our benefactor, who measured all the worlds at that time, went and resided is the great hill of thiruvEngadam), oh, one who is standing in thiruvEngadam as its controller, after completing your activity of measuring all the worlds! You should embrace me.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here: After swirling and throwing out namuchi in the ethereal layers, after getting rid of anyaSEshathvam [servitors to other deities] and svasvAthanthryam [being dependent only on self and not on emperumAn] of samsAris, his crown became effulgent. That feature took root when he became vEngadavANan, residing in thirumalai. However, that was established only when he hugged AzhwAr. The term minnu mudiyan became a reality only after krishNa embraced AzhwAr.
We shall next consider the 9th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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